Environmental Epidemiology
Environmental epidemiology studies the relationships between exogenous factors and health outcomes. Exogenous risk factors include environmental contaminants (such as endocrine disrupting chemicals, pesticides heavy metals, etc), the built environment (such as building, housing, and land use), air quality, water quality, climate change as well as factors describing the social environment, such as psychosocial stress and poverty. Environmental epidemiologists examine a wide variety of outcomes including neurodevelopmental outcomes (such as decreased scores on cognitive tests, school performance, autism) cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes (including obesity), neurological disorders (such as Alzheimer’s disease, essential tremor and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), trauma and injury, and psychiatric disorders. Because of the wide range of both exposures and outcomes, environmental epidemiologists collaborate with laboratory scientists, exposure assessment experts, clinicians and epidemiologists in other sub-specialty areas.
At Mailman, research within the environmental epidemiology unit spans studies in the local Washington Heights community, to studies in New York City, to studies in the US, and studies abroad. Faculty collaborate with local birth cohorts, such as those run by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, with national cohorts, such as the Child Health and Development Studies (established in 1959 with active follow up activities) and the Environmental Determinants of Child Health Outcomes (ECHO), with international birth cohorts in Norway, Israel, India and other countries. Faculty also use administrative data bases, such as Medicaid and vital records from New York City and beyond. Other faculty are actively conducting intervention and community-based field trials in cities in the US and other countries; for example such studies employ strategies to decrease the use of beauty products containing endocrine disrupting chemicals and those to educate mothers residing in impoverished neighborhoods in India about the hazards of trash burning. Studies integrate traditional epidemiologic study designs with studies of biomarkers, geographical information systems, social epidemiologic methods, life course methods, and intervention and implementation science.
As environmental epidemiology is inherently multidisciplinary, faculty have collaborations with other departments within the Mailman School of Public Health, the Columbia University Medical Center and throughout the world. Major collaborations include with the Departments of Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, Population and Family Health, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Medicine, and Psychiatry.
The Department of Epidemiology, jointly with the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, sponsors a monthly seminar series linked to the our joint training grant (see below). This seminar series gives trainees a place to present the work in which they are engaging, and also focuses on specific career skills, such as grant writing and presentation skills.
The Environmental Epidemiology Unit will also sponsor a monthly working group in which students and faculty can interact regarding specific current and future collaborative projects, review current papers of interest and present ongoing work. Trainees at all levels are invited to this working group.
Selected Projects
Studies Within the Nulliparous Mothers To Be Consortium
Faculty collaborate with this consortium in several ongoing projects. The Prenatal Determinants of Telomere Length study, funded by NICHD, examines associations between a variety of prenatal factors, including biomarkers of oxidative stress and measures of psychosocial stress, and telomere length at birth. (Telomeres are the protective tips of the chromosomes.) A second study, funded by NIEHS, examines associations between exposure to Hurricane Sandy during pregnancy (and specific trimesters of pregnancy) and pregnancy outcomes and telomere length. Finally, using funding from the Children’s Health and Exposure Assessment group (CHEAR, funded by NIEHS), we are performing a series of nested case control studies of phthalate exposure during each trimester of pregnancy and preeclampsia, new onset antenatal hypertension and spontaneous preterm birth. This later study includes a further assessment of metabolomics in first trimester urine and preeclampsia.
Environmental Epidemiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
ALS is a devastating and uniformly fatal (within 2-3 years of diagnosis) motor neuron disease of which little is known regarding etiology and for which very few treatments are available (and those which are only prolong life by 2-3 months). Using two national cohorts, COSMOS (funded by NIEHS) and ARREST (funded by ATSDR/CDC) we are looking at a variety of environmental risk factors for ALS and studying possible mechanisms. These studies focus on those risk factors associated with oxidative stress, such as exposure to lead, pesticides, and electromagnetic fields, and psychosocial stress, as well as smoking and physical activity. The ATSDR/CDC has recently provided funding for studies of mitochondrial DNA and epigenetic changes in the blood, brain and spinal cord within the National ALS Registry.
Follow-Up Studies of the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) Cohort
Along with our partners at the CHDS faculty have designed and conducted several studies within this cohort, now age 55-60. These studies have included prenatal exposure to organochlorine compounds and pregnancy outcomes, neurodevelopment and male reproduction, prenatal factors and breast density measures, cardiovascular disease and cognition in adulthood. Faculty have also followed members of this cohort in a study of health disparities in adulthood.
Multi-City Randomized Trials of Vacant Land Abatement
In partnership with local municipalities and the University of Pennsylvania, Tulane University, the University of Michigan and Rutgers University, this series of intervention studies will determine the health and safety effects of improving vacant land in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Flint, Michigan, Youngstown, Ohio, and Camden, New Jersey. With funding from the NIH, the CDC and the US Forest Service, standardized, reproducible, vacant land treatment processes are being implemented as part of multiple study arms in multiple cities. Over 100 communities nationwide who have implemented vacant land greening programs will also be surveyed for their experiences and lessons learned.
Randomized Trials of Abandoned Building Fixes
Urban residents see abandoned buildings every day on their way to work or school. With funding from the NIH and the CDC, we are now conducting the first citywide randomized controlled trial of the effects of abandoned housing remediation on various health and safety outcomes including substance abuse and violence. Hundreds of abandoned houses in Philadelphia will be randomly assigned to receive full abandoned housing remediation, graffiti and trash clean-up, trash clean-up only, and no housing remediation or clean-up. Longitudinal outcomes on and near these houses will be measured before and after treatment.
Training Opportunties
The Advanced Training in Environmental Health Sciences: From Molecules to Populations is the T32 jointly administered by the Departments of Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences. Fellows who are interested in participating in this program from the Department of Epidemiology are encouraged to contact Dr. Pam Factor-Litvak at pr1@cumc.columbia.edu.